As complications from infection are a major cause of morbidity and mortality following transplantation, infection prevention is a cornerstone of any modern solid organ transplantation program. There is no doubt that, among other measures, antimicrobial prophylaxis has decreased the incidence and severity of posttransplant infections, and it is a major contributor to the currently improved survi...

Cytomegalovirus plays an essential role in human pathology. Primary infection usually occurs childhood and subsequently, a lifelong latency is formed which the virus replicates by evading immune response. In recent years, more researchers have concluded that cytomegalovirus reactivation may occur critically ill patients. Despite available evidence, data on this group of patients are limited rel...

We report the frequency and type of infectious ocular complications following orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) and review diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. During the period September 1988 through November 1994, 684 patients underwent OLT at Mount Sinai Hospital (New York). Nine orthotopic liver transplant patients (1.3%) developed ocular infections: Candida albicans endophthalmitis ...

BACKGROUND Recently, there have been increasingly frequent reports on the occurrence of macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Clinically, MAS is characterized mainly by fever, hepatosplenomegaly, cytopenia, and elevated circulating ferritin and CD25. Mortality, even if diagnosed rapidly, is high. AIM To identify all reports on MAS in IBD and t...

CONTEXT The most frequently used methods for detecting antibodies are the indirect immunofluorescence test and the enzymatic immunoassay (ELISA). The polymerase chain reaction is a molecular biology technique in which the production of large amounts of specific DNA fragments is induced from very low concentrations of complex substrates aloowing the detection of very low amounts of viral particl...

Lymphocytopenia and CD4+ T lymphocytopenia can be associated with many bacterial, fungal, parasite and viral infections. They can also be found in autoimmune and neoplastic diseases, common variable immunodeficiency syndrome, physical, psychological and traumatic stress, malnutrition and immunosuppressive therapy. Besides, they can also be brought into relation, without a known cause, with idio...